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<\/a>When you do begin university life, there will be an absolute stack of admin to do. My advice would be to write a list, and get it done as soon as possible. First things first, set up a WeChat account \u2013 you honestly can\u2019t live here without it. You use it to pay vendors, shop online, contact tutors, be informed about class info etc. For that last one, WeChat basically takes the place of Blackboard, so it is really important. When you set up your banking, get to the bank early unless you want to spend 3 hours sitting in their lobby (you don\u2019t). Don\u2019t forget your TFN either! When you get a sim card, I recommend China Unicom. You get unlimited data for a very reasonable price, and it\u2019s a reliable network country-wide. If you\u2019re studying\/living in the Xuhui campus, there\u2019s a Unicom and BOC branch right outside one the main gates, so it\u2019s pretty convenient. Speaking of, if you\u2019re torn between living on Minhang or Xuhui, I would highly recommend Xuhui. Not only is Minhang really far away from downtown Shanghai, but because it\u2019s so big it has become its own little city. What I\u2019ve heard from people who live there, is that this means you become rather reluctant to leave and explore because everything you want is around you, and you end up missing out on all Shanghai has to offer. There is a shuttle bus that runs between the two, but it\u2019s still a hassle. So, unless the majority of your classes are taught there, I would say book in Xuhui. Side note, if you do book in Xuhui, your options are; Lianxing building and Tao Li Yuan. The former is an older building, and only the rooms on the top level have been renovated. The latter is new, and all the rooms are much more modern. I\u2019m stuck on Lianxing level one which isn\u2019t that nice, but I\u2019m only here for one semester so I\u2019m willing to put up with it. It was also, like everything in this country, so incredibly cheap that it\u2019s not really worth complaining about.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Last but not least, if you are here on an X2 visa (one semester), you cannot obtain a Residence Permit visa. This is contrary to what I had been told, so it was a bit of a disappointment. You can add one more entry to your visa if you want, but that\u2019s it. Just a word of warning!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Well that wraps up my post for month one! If you have any specific dorm orientated questions don\u2019t hesitate to ask because I found very little information myself when I was looking. Until next time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even though I’ve hit my one month mark, I still struggle to believe I\u2019m living in what has got to be one of the world\u2019s most incredible cities. I feel as though my life has been flipped upside down a little, and in the midst of the excitement I\u2019m sadly realizing my time here is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4415,"featured_media":5581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1242,207,5245,450],"tags":[1242,207,5245,450],"class_list":{"0":"post-5580","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-accommodation","8":"category-adjusting-to-uni","9":"category-china","10":"category-student-life","11":"tag-accommodation","12":"tag-adjusting-to-uni","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-student-life"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n